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Examining the challenges that occupational therapy practitioners may face in working with behavior analysts to assist clients with autism spectrum disorder.
Occupational therapy practitioners have a long history of partnering with members of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) community, bringing a unique occupational perspective to the assessment and intervention services they offer. The value of the occupational therapy perspective has long been recognized by consumers of these services as well as administrators, policymakers, and other professionals. Recently, in an informal survey, approximately 8,000 parents on the MyAutismTeam website (www.myautismteam.com/) identified occupational therapy more frequently than any other therapy as the intervention that "worked best" for their child with autism (Peacock, 2013). In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP; Myers & Plauché Johnson, 2007), and the National Research Council (2001) include occupational therapy practitioners as important members of the autism service delivery team.
ASD is a complex neurobiological condition; as a result individuals with this diagnosis experience a wide range of needs. Guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Office of Special Education recommend a team-based approach to ensure that professionals with appropriate expertise are involved in assessment and intervention services (Musgrove, 2015; Myers & Plauché Johnson, 2007). However, the dynamics of collaboration and competing philosophies can create challenges for team members. This is especially true for autism teams, which can be large and include a diverse group of professionals. An increasingly familiar member of these teams is the board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA). BCBAs are practitioners of applied behavior analysis (ABA), who come from widely varied backgrounds (e.g., psychology, education, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy) and whose services focus on providing ABA to positively change observable behavior. BCBAs are recognized as common members of the autism team, and their role is supported by several reports that emphasize behavioral interventions for individuals on the autism spectrum (National Autism Center, 2015; Wong et al., 2014).
Occupational therapy practitioners working with individuals with autism sometimes experience resistance from BCBAs when attempting to deliver services. These challenges include confusion over professional roles, misunderstandings related to overlapping scopes of practice, and varying definitions of evidence-based practice. To minimize these challenges and improve collaboration between the two professions, this article aims to...